The present invention relates to fried snack foods, especially chip-type products, made from a starch-based, preferably potato-based, dough to which certain non-potato food pieces, preferably vegetable pieces, are added.
Chip-type fried snack products made from a starch-based dough have been gaining ever-increasing popularity. There are numerous variations today regarding the appearance, texture, and/or flavor of such products. For example, a popular variation is to topically apply vegetable pieces or powdered flavors or spices to the finished chip product. A problem with these products, however, is that the added pieces or powder tend to become separated from the chip during packaging, shipping, and/or storage.
Another popular variation is to incorporate certain inert non-potato foodstuffs into the dough used to formulate said chip-type products. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,503 to Tan et al., (assigned to Continental Baking Co.), issued July 5, 1966; U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,701 to Wong et al., issued Nov. 1, 1966; U.S. Pat. No.3,361,573 to Reinertsen, issued Jan. 2, 1968; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,258 to Markakis et al. (assign Food Industries, Inc.) issued Mar. 27, 1962; all hereby incorporated herein.) A particular problem that occurs during processing the doughs containing said non-potato food-stuffs, especially when said doughs are subjected to vigorous preparation, processing, and/or frying, is that the food pieces incorporated within said dough lose their physical and structural integrity, are reduced in particle size, and as a result are not visible or distinguishable in the final product. This is particularly evident when the doughs are subjected to vigorous frying to produce a snack product. Under high temperature frying conditions, the moisture within the dough is vaporized to steam and is forcefully expelled from the snack product through a series of capillaries and pores leading to the snack food's surface. During steam escape from a starch-based snack food product, incorporated non-potato food pieces may also be expelled from the product with the steam, depending upon their degree of adherence to the dough. In addition, non-potato food pieces may be moved so close to the snack surface by the steam velocities that subsequent handling during packaging, shipping, and/or storage may cause the non-potato food pieces to be separated from the snack product.
In order to minimize particle size attrition during processing and to preserve the natural color of non-potato food pieces within starch-based snack products, it is necessary that the non-potato food pieces remain physically intact within the structure of the snack product. The breaking apart of the non-potato food pieces in the dough in the presence of high shear, temperature, and/or moisture compromises the capacity of the dough to form a satisfactory final product. As a result, said dough often produces a final product that is discolored and/or has no visible or distinguishable non-potato food pieces within the snack product. These problems are especially evident when doughs must be mill-rolled into sheets, cut into chip-type shapes, and/or deep-fat fried.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a starch-based chip-type snack food product having incorporated therein discrete individual non-potato food pieces which retain their physical integrity , show minimal particle size degradation, and are visible and distinct in the final food product.
It is a further object of the present invention to create a chip-type snack food product incorporating non-potato food pieces wherein the final snack product has an excellent appearance and texture.
These and other objects of the invention will become clear by the disclosure herein.
All percentages and ratios are by weight, unless otherwise indicated.